


hot menthol burn

by drfeels



Category: Free!
Genre: Consensual, M/M, Non-Penetrative Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Smut, sourin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 01:18:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2090331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drfeels/pseuds/drfeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke obeys, unzips his hoodie the rest of the way and throws it down to the floor, followed by his t-shirt. Rin pushes at his ribcage and he takes the hint and rolls over onto his stomach, shifts his pillow and lays it under his shoulders. The familiar scent of menthol burns the inside of his nostril and he can hear the soft, wet sound of Rin slicking up his fingers.</p><p>Neither of these things prepare him for Rin's touch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hot menthol burn

**Author's Note:**

> pretentious title again i'm sorry

There are a handful of scents so familiar to Yamazaki Sousuke that they might as well be part of his bloodstream, his nerve endings, fused into his skin. The first, without mystery or explanation, is chlorine. Chemical, bitter, stinging his nose since before he can even remember anymore. The sixty percent of water that makes up his body might as well be purified with chlorine.  
  
The second, the laundry detergent his mother's used since he was age five, the one he defaults to even when he washes his shirts at school. Warm, comforting, clean. Laundry smells right with it, it smells like they're his clothes. He cannot give up that small thing, no matter how easy it is.  
  
Third is menthol. Menthol and muscle salve, the kind that cools and then burns. His back always ends up sore with a new training menu, shoulders aching, to the point where he keeps a jar in his bag constantly, and it's always half empty.  
  
He's reaching to grab it out of his bag after his post-practice shower when Rin slyly crashes against his locker, having already taken care of his captain duties with the freshmen.  
  
"Sousuke," he grins, like he always does. "See you back at the dorm?"  
  
"Yeah. 'Course." He can't be mad at Rin, even if it's a stupid question to ask. Where else would he be?  
  
He digs his fingers into the jar and rubs some onto his bicep when Rin takes notice, grabs the jar from his hand. "You sore?"  
  
"A little."  
  
"You should let me do it. I've got good hands."  
  
Sousuke snorts. "Sure you do."  
  
"No," he says. "I'm serious. Wait for me in the room, ok? I'll do it."  
  
He grabs the jar back from Rin's hand, caps it, shoves it back in his bag and zips everything up. "I'll be there," he says as he places his headphones into his ear and scrolls through his iPod for a song. "Take your time."  
  
***  
  
Rin actually takes about forty-five minutes, but it really doesn't matter.  
  
It's two hours until dinner and Sousuke is too tired to really bother with his homework just yet. He lays on his bunk and traces patterns in the ceiling tiles with his eyes. The same song has been looping on repeat for the past half an hour. It's soothing, this sort of quiet atmosphere, and the music fades and numbs his head. He could almost fall asleep.  
  
Instead, he thinks about Rin.  
  
His absentee roommate, his best friend, the type of best friend who, despite being gone for 5 years, still seems to love him with everything he used to and then some. With just a few words they go back to being like they used to be, no matter the distance between them or the years. Part of Sousuke wonders if this sort of thing is normal, if everyone has a person like that, or if somehow he and Rin have been handed a special set of cards dealt by fate.  
  
He's not even sure if best friend is what to call it anymore, and his heart aches. Thinking about Rin lends his whole body a terrible, electrifying warmth that cannot be dealt with properly no matter how many times he tries.  
  
He likes Rin. No, he _loves_ Rin. It is no more complex or simple than that.  
  
It's not a secret. It is not something he's hidden. Sousuke is honest to the core with his feelings, and brave. After seeing Rin again after so long, after spending so many hours thinking of how he'd say it, he'd told Rin simply how it was.  
  
 _I like you._  
  
There was no fear in his words, there could not be. Even after five years there was Rin, there was always Rin.  
  
 _I never forgot you._  
  
Rin had replied back by kissing him goodnight. And good morning. And a lot of other things. After-practice shower kiss on the shoulder. Holding Sousuke's hand while watching horror movies last Friday until 2am.  
  
 _I waited to swim with you again._  
  
It has been two weeks. School, homework, practice. They sleep in separate beds. No matter how much Sousuke wants to touch Rin, to kiss him more, he can't find a place to properly ask.  
  
Not seeing Rin for five years has made him realize how many things he doesn't know anymore.  
  
The sound of keys scraping the lock penetrates his headphones and the door swings open. Rin saunters in and is quick to disrobe from his practice warm-up suit to his default uniform of tank top and sweats. He unzips his bag and carefully stacks all his schoolbooks on the desk and Sousuke thinks maybe he's forgotten earlier until Rin pivots on his foot and points at him.  
  
"You," he says. "Where's the rub."  
  
"Swim bag."  
  
Rin helps himself, digs through Sousuke's things until he finds the jar, tucks it in his hand. "I'm coming up," he says, and before Sousuke can answer he scales the short ladder to the top bunk.  
  
"We're doing it up here?"  
  
"No reason not to." Rin pushes at the edge of his t-shirt. "C'mon. Take it off."  
  
Sousuke obeys, unzips his hoodie the rest of the way and throws it down to the floor, followed by his t-shirt. Rin pushes at his ribcage and he takes the hint and rolls over onto his stomach, shifts his pillow and lays it under his shoulders. The familiar scent of menthol burns the inside of his nostril and he can hear the soft, wet sound of Rin slicking up his fingers.  
  
Neither of these things prepare him for Rin's touch.  
  
Rin starts with the middle of his spine and works outward with deep strokes around his shoulder blades, the sockets of his shoulders, down his spine, to the base of his back. It's been a long time since he's had someone rub him down at all, let alone someone like Rin, which lends an element to this that shouldn't necessarily exist. He groans when Rin reaches a stiff spot and begins to kneed his fingers deep into it. It feels so good, it hurts but at the same time something there relaxes and lets loose and the pressure he hadn't realized he had leaves him.  
  
"You're tense," Rin mutters. "Did you stretch properly?"  
  
"Of course I did." That's not a lie, either. Lack of stretching would lead to injury, which in something he can't afford, especially not now that he has a college he's promised to. "It's just been a while."  
  
"A while?"  
  
"Since I had a rub."  
  
"You...don't go to the school nurse? Or one of the team managers?" Rin's voice sounds confused. "Who does this then? Who did this at your old school?"  
  
"I guess I do. I did."  
  
"That's not good." Rin takes his arm and steadies his palm on Sousuke's back while he rotates the shoulder. "You can't reach all the way back here. You need someone to do this."  
  
"Good thing you're here then." His laugh is eaten up by the pillow and comes out rather muffled.  
  
"I'm the captain," Rin says. "I have to look after my boyfriend."  
  
Sousuke has never heard him use that word before, in any context, let alone context involving himself.  
  
The bottom of his stomach drops out and gets swallowed up by some kind of infinite abyss. His whole body prickles as the menthol balm cools and the sensation travels up his spine to the base of his scalp. The room smells medicinal and Rin's words hang in the air. Rin does not seem to think anything of them, his hands keep moving, kneeding Sousuke's shoulder blades, the base of his neck, the tense parts of his trapezius at the base of his skull.  
  
All of his nerves feel like they're on fire. Deep between his legs something jumps and heats and pools in his belly. When Rin raises his hands to move them, the next time they come down he jumps at the touch a little, bites down on his lip and he's glad Rin can't see his expression, what he's thinking.  
  
"Are you thinking--" Rin asks, pressing down particularly hard on a stubborn knot in his lower back, "--of something?"  
  
"You're good at this."  
  
"I know." He can't see Rin's grin but he can hear it in his voice. "They made us take a class in Australia, all the muscles and stuff like that. It was kinda fun. They made us memorize all the names though, that was shit. This--" he says as he kneeds deeply, making Sousuke jump even more, "is the _latissimus dorsi_. Your 'lat'." Rin moves his hands in an upward stroke with his lower palms, along the curve of Sousuke's shoulder blade. "Your _rhomboids_." Rin's hands lift off him and come down, very suddenly, on his-- " _Gluteus maximus_."  
  
He jumps. He doesn't mean to, but his spine curves into the bed and he shivers and jumps when Rin grabs him there, digs in his nails through Sousuke's sweatpants, so much it feels like no fabric is between them at all. Part of him thinks Rin is just joking around until he hears--and feels--Rin lean forward along his back. The tips of Rin's long bangs tickle the back of his neck as Rin whispers deep and harshly, "It's a nice one."  
  
Those sharp teeth nip lightly at the shell of his ear and a shiver goes down his spine. It goes straight between his legs. He feels it, all his nerves opening on fire, the balm burns on his muscles but that's a steady warmth, this is like something else entirely. His heart shakes and races.  
  
Rin notices, no--Rin knows.  
  
"Roll over," he says, giving Sousuke's side a push. "I've got to do your front."  
  
It sounds like a lie.  
  
"No you don't."  
  
"Don't be ridiculous, I do." He tries to worm his fingers under Sousuke's side to get him to yield. "If you don't do it I'm gonna make you play me for it. And you'll lose."  
  
He sighs and turns over, but not before wiggling a bit, trying to calm down, to get his pants to loosen up around his hips. He turns over anyways and tries to pretend Rin won't see, but their eyes meet. He knows. Rin sees it and he knows, he knows everything. He smirks and maybe Sousuke wonders if he'd been trying to do this all along.  
  
"It's big."  
  
That's all Rin says with a small smirk and a glimmer of those sharp teeth, so little and so much at the same time that Sousuke wishes he hadn't really said anything at all. At least, not until Rin leans forward and straddles his thigh to get better access at rubbing his shoulder and he understands. There's a hardness there, he can feel it. Rin seems to be pretending it's not there at all, though the tips of his ears might be redder than usual if Sousuke squints enough.  
  
In a careful decision he shifts his leg up just slightly higher, tests the pressure of his thigh between Rin's legs. Rin's whole body shivers, and there's no way to hide it.  
  
Passion is decided as rashly as almost everything else Rin seems to take to. His nails dig into Sousuke's shoulders and he leans forward, meets their lips, kisses deeply, deeper, to the point where the bones of their jaws grind and their teeth clack and Rin's tongue swipes Sousuke's lips, top then bottom, his gums, the inside of his cheek. Against his thigh Rin shakes and grows harder. Sousuke reaches his hands up under Rin's tank top, runs them along his spine, all the muscles Rin knows how to name, then down and he grips them tightly against Rin's bottom. In a swift movement he grinds his thigh up between Rin's legs and pulls him closer with his hands and Rin, to avoid the ceiling, has no choice but to bend forward. His lips land near Sousuke's ear and that becomes his whole world, all of his senses are drowned out by the sound of Rin's feverish breaths and the heat as he exhales heavily on Sousuke's neck.  
  
He pulls at the waistband of Rin's sweatpants and underwear and Rin kicks them off eagerly, throws them over the railing to the floor on top of Sousuke's shirt and hoodie, and follows it with his tank top. Rin reaches to do the same, runs his hands up Sousuke's chest and moves them down to his waistband when Sousuke gets a whiff of menthol and catches his wrist.  
  
"You still have salve on your hands," he says. "It'll burn."  
  
Rin blinks, and in the haze he'd probably forgotten completely. "Right," he grins. "Hands-free, then? Unless you want me to make a quick run to the bathroom."  
  
No. Not the bathroom. There's no time for that, and he doesn't want to wait. Part of him is so impatient, like if something happens this moment might not exist again.  
  
He takes Rin by the wrists and helps him tip over on his side, shifts himself against the wall so the curves of their bodies align, Rin's spine grazing Sousuke's stomach. Rin moves his hips backwards a little too forcefully and grinds against Sousuke's erection and the tops of his thighs in a way that cannot be a complete accident.  
  
Sousuke doesn't let go of his wrists. He traps him in his arms, holds Rin's wrists against Rin's bare chest, feels his way along his shoulders with just his lips. He brushes away the deep red strands of Rin's hair off his neck with his nose. His lips meet the side of Rin's neck, the hinge of his jaw, lobe of his ear. He licks his way along the nape with a firm tongue and gives a gentle suck. Rin shivers and tries to curl away from it but he has no where to go.  
  
He's not sure where to go from here, just that it has to go somewhere, he's aching and he knows Rin is too, every shift of his hips against the back of Rin's thighs makes both of them tremble all over. Without much hesitance or thought he lets go of one of Rin's wrists, hooks a thumb in the waistband of his sweatpants and underwear and pulls them down to his knees. He parts Rin's smooth, shaven thighs with his own, places his erection between them and breathes out against the back of Rin's neck as he feels Rin understand. Rin closes on them, grinds his hips back with force and he releases Rin's other wrist, curls his fingers around Rin's hips, pulls them against his as tight as they'll go. Sweat beads and trickles down the back of Rin's neck. It's hot, so, so hot.  
  
He can barely feel the burn of the menthol in his muscles compared to the fire that's lit his body now.  
  
Rin's still laying against the railing of the bunk, hands gripping it tight with white and hard knuckles. Sousuke shifts his hips and thrusts himself between Rin's thighs and Rin catches on. His breath hitches as he tenses all those strong, carefully curated muscles he has, they hum and tighten like steel cords. Sousuke palms along them, strokes upwards, each stroke getting closer and Rin's breath faster. He curls his fingers around Rin's erection. The reaction is instantaneous, Rin's hips grind backwards, tighter to him still, he lets out a moan like he can't quite remember how to breathe.  
  
Sousuke's lips sooth the back of his neck, his spine, nip and the back of his ear lobe and he begins to time his thrusts with the strokes of his hand. He closes his eyes and focuses on nothing, just the sound of their skin, their breath. His ears become like his nerves, hightened to the core, everything becomes louder, the wet sound of himself between Rin's thighs and Rin's teeth scraping his lip as he tries to keep himself from crying out in a way that would send the underclassmen racing down the hall to their door.  
  
Underneath them the bunk rattles and shakes like it's in the middle of a storm. They're caught in the eye of it, the quiet and serene part. The center, where everything stops and starts. They _are_ the storm.  
  
"C-coming," Rin breathes. "Soon."  
  
Sousuke understands he's close himself but he listens to the sounds of Rin's body like the tick of a clock. Rin's breath as it gets faster, closer, his thighs stiffening and spine curving and even with his mouth closed he can't stop himself. He lets out a long, deep moan, one that echoes over everything, as he comes in Sousuke's hand. Sousuke isn't far behind from that, he feels his body going numb, white, as Rin echoes in his ears. He buries his mouth in Rin's neck, holds himself steady and breathes deep against it as his body stiffens and shakes and he comes with Rin's thighs still tight around him.  
  
They lay there like that for a moment until Rin parts his thighs, white and sticky, and sits up. "I just took a shower."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Now I need another." His voice sounds like he's trying to be mildly annoyed but can't get the energy to feel it properly. He falls back down on the bed, leaving his legs as far away apart from each other as they can possibly go. "I should get this off before it dries."  
  
"You should."  
  
Rin shoots him a look. "You're not gonna offer to go get me tissues?"  
  
Sousuke finds himself biting back a laugh. "I didn't know I was supposed to."  
  
Rin huffs but forces himself off the mattress and down the ladder. He mutters something Sousuke can't quite make out but a minute later there's a hand with a tissue peeking over the top of the bunk railing.  
  
"Take it," Rin says, as though he's trying to sound like he's not doing this out of genuine good will. "I...came on your hand, didn't I?"  
  
"Oh. Yeah."  
  
Sousuke wipes off the residual stickiness that's made its way between his fingers and cleans off some of himself from between his thighs before he balls up the tissue and throws it at the wastebasket in the corner. Shoots. It goes in effortlessly. Scores.  
  
The silence that hangs between them now feels stiff, as though they should be talking about what's happened, doing something. He doesn't know what to say. No matter how hard he tries he can't gauge Rin right now, what he's thinking, what he wants. He's about to consider giving up and going back to his iPod when the bunk ladder shakes and Rin's disheveled head pops up. The rest of his still-naked body follows and he nudges Sousuke over and snakes his way back into the same spot as before, though this time he faces Sousuke, lays on his chest and fits his head neatly in the spot between Sousuke's neck and shoulder.  
  
"That stuff smells gross," he says. "It's so strong."  
  
"You mean the menthol?"  
  
"Yeah." Rin sighs and places a quick kiss against the inside of his neck. "It's all you smell like right now."  
  
Sousuke laughs. "Your fault."  
  
"I guess."  
  
The minutes tick by and they lay there, too tired to think of other things to say. Sousuke pushes back his hair, the roots are thick with sweat. Rin's body heat just makes everything worse, like they're melting together, but at the same time he doesn't want him to go either. He shifts his shoulders. They're warm with the barest tingle left, but they feel good. Loose. Rin might actually not be kidding when he says he knows what he's doing.  
  
 _"I have to look after my boyfriend."_  
  
"Boyfriend..." he finds himself muttering softly.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"You called me your boyfriend."  
  
Rin shifts his head from Sousuke's neck and props himself up on an elbow. The sweat there cools. It's refreshing but also strangely uncomfortable, just that side of his neck. "I thought you were. Aren't you?"  
  
"I guess we never talked about it."  
  
"I didn't know we had to." Rin leans over him, moves his bare thigh and swings his leg so he's straddling Sousuke's naked torso. He sits himself on the bottom of Sousuke's stomach, right over his hip bones, leans forward and steadies himself with his palms on Sousuke's chest over so the top of his head doesn't scrape the ceiling. "I've been kissing you every morning."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Every night."  
  
"I know."  
  
"So _what_ ," Rin spits.  
  
It's clear the short answers irritate him, even if that's all Sousuke can really find it in him to offer. What else is he supposed to say? He's always been dry to the bone. He doesn't have that kind of romantic nerve in his body. There's nothing but flat, honest words. That's all he has. He can only hope that's all Rin wants.  
  
"So I just...wasn't sure. What you thought it was. What I was."  
  
"Have you never dated anyone before? I kissed you, moron. More than once. I like you, of course I think that! I lo--" He cuts himself off hastily with a cough.  
  
That was fast.  
  
"You love me?"  
  
He can't find it in him to breathe.  
  
Rin presses a hand to his chest. His eyes flicker to Sousuke's, then away, then back again. "I don't know what else the word for it would be."  
  
"We can go with boyfriend."  
  
He leans up for a kiss and Rin meets him halfway. It's gentler this time, more chaste, but now that Sousuke understands the meaning on Rin's end somehow it's much more provocative than anything he's felt before. A kiss with real, true meaning to it. Romantic. Maybe he does have that sort of bone somewhere deep in his body too. He'll search for it someday later, after more kisses and touches, and his mind wanders to how much further they can go, how far they've gone. A long future stretches ahead of them, their shadows elongating on the path as the past sets behind them like the sun.  
  
 _This is enough for now._


End file.
